Being in Service to Life with Charles Eisenstein

🎙️ Episode Overview

I'm thrilled to bring you this conversation with philosopher, writer & activist Charles Eisenstein. For those of you who aren't familiar with Charles' work—it's no exaggeration to say that his ideas contained in his books and writing have shaped my personal worldview more than any other author I can think of.

What I appreciated about this conversation was his deep presence and at times a refusal to answer my question because he felt like there was a deeper and more real question beneath the surface. You can feel the urgency in the tone of his voice, the deep sense of how much is wrong with the world and his sincere desire to not bypass this deep discomfort.

I've re-listened to this conversation several times myself and some of what really stood out for me was:

👽 Our mutual sense of confinement, wrongness and alienation that we felt growing up in middle-class education — he described how he wrestled with this question of ‘who marooned me on planet crazy’.

👐 His earnestness to be "fully available" and to be in service to life and his belief that it’s actually technically 'easy' to heal the planet, but our consciousness is getting in the way

🌎 We also touched in on the state of the world and how he believed that grief for the dying world is actually what is required for the world not to die.

🎅 Making the case for getting truly serious about being selfish & why laziness is a message that points towards how our life energy wishes to be expressed.

📚 Why Dr. Seuss' Myth of the Grinch is so relevant for our times and what we can learn from seeing today's world through a more mythic lens.

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This episode is also sponsored by me—or more specifically the upcoming Nervous System Mastery training that I've poured my heart and soul into. Applications will be opening up soon so if you're curious to nerd out on research-backed protocols for emotional self-regulation + resilience you can find more details at >> nsmastery.com <<
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🔗 Show Notes + Links

💌 Subscribe to Charles' superb substack newsletter
👀 Explore his thought-provoking essays from the past decade
🌎 Two of Charles' Books: A More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible & The Ascent of Humanity
👨‍🎓 His self-paced online courses (the gift economy + exploration of masculinity are highly recommended)
📹 Curated youtube videos containing some of his biggest ideas

📚 Two Books Mentioned by Charles

📖 Charles favourite story growing up: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster
🎄 A myth for our times: How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss